Jaguar Land Rover fined £40,000 for worker’s ‘horrific’ injuries

Overview of incident

Jaguar Land Rover Ltd received a £40,000 fine for safety breaches after a worker suffered life-threatening crush injuries. The injured person was dragged into inadequately guarded machinery.

Investigations by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that after the latest in a series of frequent production line problems the employee approached a gap in the perimeter guarding that surrounded a machine. The employee was knocked to the ground and forcibly dragged into the restricted processing area after being hit by an empty vehicle body carrier on a circulatory chain conveyor that was travelling through the gap.

The employee punctured both lungs and broke ten ribs, his breastbone, two bones in his spine and two in his right hand. He had blood clots on his heart and kidneys and was in an induced coma in intensive care for 12 days. He was in hospital for a further seven days but was back at work within 17 weeks.

Details of fine

A fine of £40,000 was given and costs of £13,474 are to be paid after a guilty plea to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations.

Injured Person(s)

57-year-old maintenance electrician from Northfield, Birmingham

Company Involved

Jaguar Land Rover Ltd

Location

Solihull, West Midlands, England

Court

Birmingham Crown Court

Quotes

Fell far short of a safe and reasonable standard

This was an entirely reasonable, foreseeable situation. The breach was an ongoing failure and an accident waiting to happen. – His Honour Judge Carr

The incident was entirely preventable. Although the gap was minimally sized to allow empty carriers into the restricted area, it also allowed access to dangerous moving parts within the production process while in itself creating a crush hazard with the moving conveyor.

Jaguar Land Rover has extensive safety systems in place and the Lode Lane plant had other facilities with similar processes that are guarded much more effectively. The company should have ensured the same level of protection at this location. It didn’t and as a result a man suffered horrific injuries. It is remarkable that he recovered enough to return to work within 17 weeks. The incident could very easily have ended his life. – HSE inspector John Glynn